Yesterday afternoon we went running to do some non food shopping, and I made the HUGE mistake of attempting to look for a bra, in a certain cut and color. This is never a good thing.
As I have mentioned before, I have PCOS- basically a hormonal condition that makes it difficult to metabolize food in the way most people do, lose weight and many other things. It goes way beyond this to things like infertility, severe acne in many women ( thankfully I skipped that) , facial hair ( I have a full beard if I do not shave daily- I kid you not) , and a less than traditional female shape. In women with PCOS you often do not get the traditional large breast and big hip apperance, but instead something that looks like a brick on thin legs with thin arms. Which leads to ALL KINDS of difficulty and frustration when it comes to clothing.
It starts from the undies out. Panties for larger women are designed for gals with larger cabooses and ample hips. If you do not have these proportions, the fit is wiggy at best. Then move to the bra. For reasons of the need to outfit as many women in that size as possible, once you get to a band size beyond 36, you will rarely find a band size bigger than this with a cup size of anything less than C. Beyond 44, it seems they only carry D cups. I happened to be "blessed" with a size 46 B. Just try to find that size in a place like WalMart, Target, Meijers, Kohls, Sears, Pennys or even Layne Bryant. You either have to order online( and pray the sizing is accurate) , buy cups too big and have the whole argument about support go right out the window, or wear a sports bra. Sports bras do not offer the same support, and unless you want to have your straps sticking out through the neckline, limit you to wearing tee shirts and little else.
I never found a bra and came home feeling really, really frustrated. I did think about two possible solutions to the problem, until I lose weight ( let's not even get into the frustration on that- losing weight when you are dealing with hormonal issues makes emptying the ocean a thimbleful of water at a time look like a productive restful activity). First answer would be hunt out a bra pattern and start making my own. They have to exist- there are patterns for everything if you know where to look. Second would be to grab a bottle of honey, find an aunt hill, coat myself in honey, lie down and hope that the swelling from the ant bites will allow me to become that fabled D cup that every plus sized woman allegedly is. What do you think ?
Off to work out my frustrations with a session with the trekking poles !
4 comments:
I share your frustration! Mine is the opposite i'm huge for my size and trying to find any bra that can keep them in is hard, never mind a sports bra.
LOL @ the honey solution!
Sorry about your frustrating shopping experience :( Maybe you could try buying one online with a decent return policy and see how it goes?
Suzi- we need to get together and make some kind of redistribution of property. I can take your surplus and together we would be able to walk into most stores and just buy off the rack with ease ! ( I have noticed that Walmart seems to carry a lo of larger cup sizes in assorted band sizes. I spotted a 38 H on their racks and thought God Bless em !
Marissa- I have done a lot of ordering and returning , and it gets to be a bit of a hassle ! I even went to one of those bra fitter people who mathematically decided I must wear such and such size, and still needed to fold he cups over to get something close to what actually fits. In my dream world there are stores that stock every cup size with every band size in any color or model you could ever desire. I think if I found such a place i would need a separate room to store all of the bras I would buy !
Have you considered going to a speciality store and getting fitted? Vickie, who comments on my blog a lot, does that. They are pricey, but she swears getting the right bra is worth the price and the effort. Just a thought!
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